Also fitting this pattern is David Talbott's idea of an extreme plasma event happening when all planets were aligned on the same side o the sun. If solar cycles in general are related to the sun orbiting the solar system barycenter, and more extreme solar cycles (like the Carrington event) happen when major planets are on the same side o the sun, then if all the planets were lined up on one side of the sun, you may expect an extreme event. That is, even without understanding the mechanism, you can see that it its the pattern.